Hunger Games

I'll start by saying this: When I finished "The Hunger Games," I was not struck with the immediate urge to rush out and pick up the rest of the series.

However, I'm also not saying that I was bored, either. In fact, that is the furthest from the truth. The plot and the pacing are the book's strong points. I read a comment (I think on Emily's blog) about how she was waiting to get sucked in. I felt the same way too. But at some point in there it seems to lock in, and you're carried through the text quickly. Before you know it, and after more than a little bloodshed, you're finished.

The debate between whether plot is important in great literature tires me a lot of times. Sure, I appreciate when an author can ramble for a long time about philosophical... and there I'll stop because I'm boring myself. But sometimes, you just want a good story. And it's obvious by the success of this series that a lot of adolescent's do as well.

I'm wondering why the character of Katniss resonates with so many people today. She's a great creation for this book: stoic, persistent, brave--all of which lend themselves to getting her our alive. But overall I found her to be a little flat. She just doesn't jump off the page. I was rooting for her, but only because she'd already had such a hard life up to this point, not because I really liked her. I guess I can say that I respected her, though, which might very well make up for her lack of charisma.

I think this has been discussed in some other posts, but I'm going to have a stab at it as well. Dystopian Fiction. Why is it suddenly so popular again, especially in young adult fiction? Maybe school can like a dystopian novel at times, chaotic and stressful. Or maybe it's nice to have the youngsters fighting the oppressing adults. Whatever the reason, I can't help but think that current events have influenced it as well.

Are today's adolescents morose about the future? Have we given them reason to be? We talk incessantly about climate change, the global financial crisis, drawn-out wars that have been going on longer than some of them have been alive, and wonder why they have an interest in a tattered future. What these books provide, it seems, is a way for them to put themselves in the driver's seat and steer themselves through it. They can be Katniss and survive the games (I didn't figure that would be a spoiler because what would be the point of two more books if she died?) They can perhaps get to the other side of all the bad stuff, which is what any kid (and adult) ultimately wants.

I'd be interested to hear other opinions. Here's an article from the Guardian that might shed a little light: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/23/dystopian-fiction

I'd also be interested to see how students respond to the book in the classroom. In my practicum I overheard a kid say that he read the book in one night. This was basically a non-reader as well. Something about these books latches on to kids and really engages them. I guess I'll eventually pick up the second book and third books. If they are as engrossing as the first, then I can at least count on a solid story.